Apparatus for the recovery of by-products.



1. M. 1111mm. APPARATUS FOR THE RECOVERY, OF BY-PRODUCTS.

Pat nted May 2, 1911.

2 SREETS-SHEBT 1.

APPLICATION FILED )IARJ'I, 1909.

Fain? Patented May 2, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

, )w Q WM APYLICATIQ FILED MAR.-1'I,1909.

P I M HAMLIN APPARATUS FOR THE REGQYERY 0F BY-PRODUGTS.

' To all it may concern:

UNITED STATES PA'rENT onmon,

PULASKI M. HAMLIN, OF PITTSTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO Ai CHARLES H. UNVERZAGT, OF NEW YORK, H. Y.

Ariana-res son. THE nncovnnr or nY-rnonucrs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1911.

Application filed March 17, 1909. Serial No. 484,012.

Be it known that I, Punnsni M. HnMLlN,

a' citizen .of the United States, residingat Pittston, (R. F, D. 2,)county of Luzerne,

and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for the Recovery of By-Products, fullydescribed and represented in the following specification and theaccompanying drawings, forming apart of the same.

The object of the resent invention is to recover by-products romwood orstraw in the process of or before treatment for other purposes and alsowhere they are mere waste materials as in the case of sawdust andsawmill waste, andby-products resulting from .the treatment of anyother'materials which contain resin, pitch, tars, tur entine, oils,acids, or other products capo le of being volatilized or melted orextracted by heat. Such products are found in coniferous woodsthroughout the world, and can berecovered by this invention, which-isalso intended to treatsawmill waste for the recovery of the by-products,and to deliver such treated material to the boilers oi sawmills, forfuel purposes. It isalso intended" to treat ulpwood tor-separating theby-products t ere- ','f1 '0m before the wood is subjected to thedigesters in which it is converted into fiber.

The appliances consist of a rotary boiler,

condensers Jor chilling the 'vaporous and fluid elements which areseparated from the materiahimeans within the boiler for delivering thevaporous elements and the liquid elements separately, and detachablecouplings for connecting such means at intervals with the condensers toreceive the ,vaporous and liquid elements from the-boiler. It is wellknown that the extraction of such elements can be-cfl'ected in the bestmanner by removing a. portion of such elements at intervals from thematerial, and the boiler in the present invention is made capable ofrotation, but is broaght to rest at intervals, and tlig coupling.connected with the condenscrs for the purpose of ,conveying'the vaporsand liquids to such condensers. Stayrods are disposed within therecovery boiler 1n such manner as to agitate and to open up the mass ofchipped wood or other material which is under treatment. The material inthe boiler may be heated by" the use offsatw rated or so rheated steam,or by hot air, and itrmay treated by chemicals in solun relation tion orin a dry state, depending upon the nature of the material. The top ofthe a boiler is connected when removing the byproducts, with' a watercooled condenser, adapted to condense the'more volatile elements asturpentine, etc., and the bottom of the boiler at such time is connectedwith an air-cooled condenser adapted to condense the more dense andgummyrelements, as

- rosin, pitch and tar. The apparatus also includes'conveyers fordelivering the material into the boiler without handling, andimremovingthematerial in a similar manner after the by-products havebeencxtracted, the invention thus furnishings. means of recovering theby-pioduc ts with littleex pense.

The present invention-furnishes a means to bring into intimate relationwith the besting agent every particle of wood or other material beingtreated in the recovery boiler, and enormously diminish the labor.required in handling the material before and after treatment, as theexhausted material can be conveyed without appreciable cost 0directly-into the pulp digesters or other appliances used for thetreatment of such materials.

The invention is rticularly adapted for the recovery of the E y-productscontained in sawdust, planer-shavings, and all kinds of sawmill waste,thus irendering extremely valuable what is now a. useless material andwhich is annually destroyed incnormous quantities by burning, to preventits accu- 9o The invention willbe understood byiref- 1 erence to'theannexed drawing, in which-'- Figure 1 is an elevation in diagrammaticform of the recovery apparatus with a part of therotary boiler brokenaway to show the interior; and Fig. 2 is a cross section on line 2-2 inFig. 1 with the addition 91 8 disintegrating digester.

a designates a horizontal cylindrical recovl0!) ery boiler havinginternal braoes b to resist a pre sure-from 30 to 60 pounds r uare inch,and such braces operate e cient y to agitate and open up the material asthe boiler revolves. ,The boiler is supported in $9 a horizontalposition upop two tmc hands 0 running upon flanged truck-wheels d whichI can be rotated when deslred'bv any suitable memos, as-the' belt eshownin 2.- Hana nois -L a sh nwithmlitcbw qorq anpon L one side of theboiler and a vaporpipe g is extended along and secured to the inside ofthe boiler shell adjacent to the manholes, and has an-outlet pipe I:ertended through thd shell of the boiler and provided outside the shellwith a cocl; I: and couplin The ends of the pipe g are plugged, am it isformed with numerous perforations to discharge the vapor from the boilerwhen distilled from the material therein. The manholes are made ofsutlicient size to till and empty the boiler quickly. andconveyer-troughs z are shown extended over the path of the manholes andprovided with conveyor screws 1 which opcrate to propel any materialwhich is delivered into the troughs to 'the manholes when they areopened upon the top side of the boiler. Other conveyor-troughs m areshown arranged below the path of the manholes when at the bottom of the.vided with gate m and conveyer-scrcws n, the troughs being adapted to rccive the material discharged from tb'e manholes when' opened at thebottom of the boiler and the screws to convey the same through the gateto a disintegrating digcster indicated diagrammatically at 0 in l g. 2,or to any other place of delivery.

Inside the boiler about one inch fronrthe side and conforming to itscontour and extending from head to head for about onethird of the.circumference is a perforated screen 1) which is so secured that thematerialcannot, Q'et under the same but the liquid ingredients can bedrained from the boiler.

-' throng such screen. The shell of the-boiler along'the center line ofthe screen is perforated with holcs 1 and a leader 1" isriveted tightlyto the shell of the boiler. outside theline. of such perforations. whichforms a trough to collect all the liquid which drains 'th ough the holesThe lcadcrr has a disch irge-pipe a whim is provided-with a cock 1" anda coupling t, which serves to connect tin leader with the trap a whenthe boiler is arr sted. The holes 51' through the shell of the boilerfurnish a free delivery for the denser extracts which are separated fromthe wood, and .which would be discharged but slowly it delivered througha single hole to an outlet pipe. The leader serves to collect the fluiddischarged from all of these holes and then deliver it to the air-cooledtrap.

At one end of the boiler upon its axial line an inlet-pipe g is insertedthrough a stalling-box q so that the pipe remains station ary when theboiler is rotated. Steam or hot air may be admitted through this pipe toheat the material in the boiler, and chemicals in solution or in a. drystate may be put in through the manholes.

Theflcouplings j and tare employed at vtimes to connect; the pipes inand .v with delivcry pipes I." and 8' leading respectively to areceiving-tank u and an alr-cdoled'trap or boiler and pr'ov condenser.Snap-couplings arc preferably used. secured by spring rather thanscrewtbreads amt which can be readily connected and detached.

The top of the receiving-tankis connected by pipe at with a tubularsurface condenser 11', one cndof which is broken away to show the usualarrangenn-nt of tubes .c" packed tightly in heads npon the body of thecon-' denser. with chambcrs'r at opposite ends raving inlet and outletpipes :r. .r'. through which water is circulated to cool the tubes. Thevapors from the receiving-tank pa on.- side of the tubes and the condened product is discharged by the pipe .2 having cock .6. pipe 1 havingcock '2 connects the bottom of the receiving-tank with the air-conlciltrap 2'. ,'l'hc trap shown herein is fully illustrated in a Patent No.9605i"). granted to me June 7. 1910. for means for recoveringby-products, and has a perforated horizontal partition 3 below. whichthe lluids to be condensed are admitted by an inlet- 4, and above whichthe nncondensed vapors are discharged by an outlet deliv ry-pipe it atthe bottom of the trap discharges the cot densed liquids. Perforatedbatlle-plates i are extended upward and downward from the partition 3.and the .partition and battleplates are all perforated topermit themovement of the vapors through the trap while arresting: and chillingsuch products as resin, pitch and tar, which would clog a tubularcoiuleiisei-;- lnitwhich rcadil y work their way downward to thedelivery-pipe (l.

-. The operation of the apparatus is as follows: \Vhen char in the boilr it is held ltltl upper side. and chipped. crushed or broken woodsawdust. planer-shavings or other matcrial to be treated is brought tothe boiler by the conveyor ainlcmpt'ied into the manholcs'f. Sucheonvcycr can take the chipped wood or other material directly from thechipper's sonrceot production, and thuswholly avoid any manual labor inhandling the material. \Vhcn a suitable charge of material is placed inthe boiler, the nmnholes are closed steam-tight, andby rotating thetruck-wheels (I the boiler is slowly r volved while the steam or hot airis being admitted. The rotation of the boiler slowly changes theposition of each particle of material in relation to the steam or hotair in the boiler, andthe braces b operate to separate and open up themass of material in the boilcrso' that steam orfhot air injected throughpipe y is able to attack every particle of material under treatment.'hcn' th material to bctrcated is in atnely divided state and thereforeliable to pack closely it treated in a stationary boiler, it isconstantly agitated by the rotary action of my boiler which works the.finely divided goeaaea I g 8 a granular mass which prevents packingiind.

melt out the resin, pitch," and other heavy by-products,.it is stoppedwith the outlet valve 1" at the bottom. The pipes a and 7.2 are thenconnected tothe couplings t and j, and the cooks r and ,k are opened.The turpentine and other volatile. lay-products 'then pass through thecock h and pipe. is"

into the receiving tank u, in which they are slightly chilled so thatany of the denser elements fall to the bottom of the tank, and

'pass to the trap 11 by pipe 1, as indicatedby the arrows ad aeenti'thesaid pipe, the remainder passing through thepipe u into thesurfac'e'ccndenser w, where they are wholly condensed and discharged by'the cock '2 to any desired receptacle. While the boiler is standingstill, the heavier byproducts drain from the material through the screenand are collected in the leader from which they flow through the cock.1*

into the trap o.

- Awater-cooled condenser would chill such products as tar or pitchanda'esin so rigidly that they would adhere to the surface upon whichthey were deposited and would not flow out of their receptacle; but theaircooled trap operates by its ;numerous perforated. partitions whichconduct the heat to the shell and cover of the trap, to arrest theseproducts and leave them in a semi-fluid i condition so that they'canflow from the discharge-pi e 6 of the trap. When the boiler more freeflow of sue products ceases, the cocks h and r are closed, the pipes loand 3' uncoupled, and the boiler again rotated so that .the material issub-divided and opened up by. the braces b and thoroughly penetrated bythe steam or hot air which is introduced through the axial pipe g. Aftera suitable interval, the boiler is again stopped, the pipes s and lare-connected, and the byproducts again withdrawn, and this operation maybe repeated as long as the wood or other material .continues to furnishsuch products. It is well known that when a portion of the extractedelements is removed the remainder can be extracted with more facility asit exposes the materials in the y to a renewed action 0 the .heatorchemical agents employedg and my apparatus thus permits the material tobe treated over and over in the boiler, and the distilled elementsremoved at intervals.

"As soon as the b -products are wholly ex- ,tracted, the ma boiler isthen rotated, suchmovement. of theoles are opened and-the boileroperating to work the exhausted niaterial out through the manholes fromwhence it drips into the conveyors pi, from which it is carried to anydesired destination and without any manual labor. If chipped .wood isthe material treated, it may be further treated to convert it into fiberand for that purpose it may be delivered into a disintegrating digcster0, where it will be treated in the usual manncn. Where the exhaustedmaterial is not desired for a future manufacturing purpose, it ma v bedelivered to'the firebox of a steam boiler and used as fuel to generate,if necessary, steam or hot air'to operate the recovery apparatus.

' Several of the recovery boilers a can be operated at atime and thesame conveyors operate to deliver the material to all of the saidboilers through properly arranged gates as m in the bottom of theconveyor troughs.

A single conveyer will operate to receive the exhausted material from aseries of l)0lllS and deliver it to any desired point.

From the above description it is obvious that the apparatus. isalmostautomatic in its operation, requires very little attendance, andcan be utilized'to obtain valuable byproducts lrom waste material aswell as from the wood which is intended for producing wood fiber. In.thelater case, the apchips or shavings, are already wet; and in cases wheresuliicient water is already present in the material to extract theby-prod- .ucts, it is preferable to heat the material with compressedhot air instead of steam, as the use of steam would, by its condesation,increase the amount of water in the recoveryboiler. Hot air isespecially advantageous where the treated material is to be used asfuel, and the alternate use of steam and compressed hot air isespecially advantageou's where the material treated is pf a hard densenature, as the steam is eliicient a in penetrating and opening the poresof the material; while alternate treatments with the compressed hot airand a final treatment with such hot air avoids the introduction of muchmoisture into the boiler so f that the exhausted material is much betteradapted for fuel purposes. I I

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed hereinis:

1. In a recovery apparatus, a horizontal boiler having means forrotating it when desired and an inlet for a heating fluid upon its'axial line, one or more manholes for fill-' ing andemptying the boiler,a segmental curved screen within-the lower part of the boiler. ineam fordischarging through the side of the boiler the liquid strained throughthe screen with a pipe. (fmjk and detachable cmipling thereon. ahorizontal 'apor-pipe extended along the wahell of the. boiler next theinner side opposite. to the screen, with an outlet-pipe. a (Ut'li anddetachable cou pliny; for delivering the vapors when the boiler 3:arrestctL- 2. ln :1 l((-O\'t'1" apparatus. a horizontal boiler havingmeans for rotat in it when desired and an inlet f0 a heating tluid uponit axial line, one or more manholes for tilline and emptying the hoiler,a segmental curved screen within the lower part of the hoiler. meansprovided with a dischargepipe for disehargriug through the side of theboiler the liquid strained through the screen. an air-cooled condenser,a detachable eonnectiou from sin-h discharge-pipe to the air-coo edeondenser, a horizontal .perfoiated vapor-pipe extended along the shellof the boiler next the inner side opposite to the screen. an outlet-pipeconnected with such vapor-pipe and extended through the side, of theboiler, a aurt'ace-condense' and a detachable connection from suchoutletpipe to the surface-mmdenser, the whole 01)-' eratin; to distilthe two classes of by-prodnets from the material in the'boiler and todischarge them separately to condensers of ditl'erentcharacters when theboile1- is arrested.

same, a horizontal perforated Yapovpipuextended along the sshell of theboiler next the inner side opposite to the screen. an outlet-pipeeonneetcd with such vapor-pipe, a ret'eiving-tank and means. fordctaehahly connecting .--'ueh outlet-pipe with the. recei ing-tank, aconnection from the bottom of sueh tank to the air-cooled trap, and awater-emletl comlenser with connection from the. same to the top of thesaid reeeiv,

iugdank. the receivin'g-tanl; thus separating the hearier ingredientsfrom the itP0l and (lifitllfllfglllg them to the air-cooled trap anddiet-barging the lighter ingredients to the water-cooled condenser.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set luv hand in the presence of twosubscribing \Yitnesses:

Jnssn: (t. Vamunrz, G. C. Tarmn.

PULASKI M. l- IA MLIN.

